Warriors beat: Noted surgeon offers prognosis for Steve Kerr

Spinal-fluid issues are no doubt scary, but one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject expects Warriors head coach Steve Kerr to make a full recovery.

Kerr had surgery to repair a ruptured disk in his back July 28, but during the procedure, the dura surrounding the spinal cord was nicked and caused spinal-fluid leakage. On Sept. 4, Kerr had a second operation to patch the leak, but five weeks later, he’s still having adverse symptoms while taking a leave of absence from the team.

“The body forms spinal fluid constantly,” said Dr. Neel Anand, the director of spine trauma at Cedars-Sinai Spine Center in Los Angeles. “As long as it doesn’t continue to leak, he’ll make a full recovery and be back to normal.”

Kerr has been dealing with headaches and a lack of energy, which has made it difficult to be on the floor for practices and provide the necessary passion to coach a team that is trying to defend its first NBA championship in 40 years.

Anand said most patients experience a stoppage in the headaches within a week of having the spinal-fluid leak patched. Because Kerr hasn’t improved to a complete relief of pain, the doctor wonders if the spinal-fluid leak was stopped correctly.

He said there are a variety of methods to prevent the leakage and contain the fluid, but without access to Kerr’s medical record, the doctor isn’t sure which route was chosen.

In very rare cases, arachnoiditis can develop after a complication in spinal surgery. Arachnoiditis is a debilitating condition characterized by severe stinging and burning pain and neurologic problems. It is caused by an inflammation of the arachnoid lining — one of the three linings that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

The predominant symptom of arachnoiditis is chronic and persistent pain in the lower back, lower limbs or, in severe cases, throughout the entire body.

Other symptoms might include: tingling, numbness or weakness in the legs; bizarre sensations such as insects crawling on the skin or water trickling down the leg; severe shooting pain, muscle cramps, spasms or uncontrollable twitching; or bladder, bowel and/or sexual dysfunction.

Anand doesn’t think Kerr is in danger of arachnoiditis: “It’s like 99.9 percent that he’ll probably make a full recovery.”

Rusty Simmons has worked at the San Francisco Chronicle as a reporter since 2002, when he moved to the Bay Area from Texas — via Washington, D.C., Seattle and Germany. He covered prep sports and then Cal football and basketball before assuming the Golden State Warriors beat in 2009. Along with regularly breaking news and putting creative spins on big-issue stories within the Cal athletics beat, Rusty spends his offseasons writing human-interest features on the Bay Area sports landscape.